About the Journal

ISSN/eISSN

0257-1439/1659-2913

Publishing entity

Colegio de Profesionales en Psicología de Costa Rica

URL de OAI-PMH: http://www.rcps-cr.org/openjournal/index.php/RCPs/oai

FOCUS AND SCOPE

The Costa Rican Journal of Psychology since 1982 is the official scientific publication of open access of the Professional Association of Psychologists of Costa Rica  and published in Spanish and English. Its objectives are to disseminate theoretical, technical and practical, updated and relevant to psychology and related sciences knowledge.

The Costa Rican Journal of Psychology is a publication  open to different historical and contemporary traditions of psychological thought, while welcoming the most diverse theoretical, methodological and instrumentals in the different areas of knowledge and disciplinary work, both nationally and internationally.

It is dedicated to publishing original and unpublished works and covers both basic research and applied research and experimental development. Its purpose is to provide an intellectual and academic platform for the scientific community that is harmonious with international standards in research and scientific publication. Thus, the journal aims to publish content, information and highly accurate, precise, reliable and verifiable developments. Is published in continuous publication organized by two issues per year (the first issue corresponds from January to June, the second from July to December).

All research and studies published in the Journal of Psychology Costarricense are governed by international standards of ethics in research and go through the process of review of double-blind.

 REVIEW PROCESS

Revista Costarricense de Psicología accepts for publication original, unedited papers and those that have not been submitted to consideration for publication in other published media. The manuscript will be delivered in Microsoft Word format, by E-mail to the Journal’s editorial board (editorial@rcps-cr.org) copying the Director (director@rcps-cr.org) for pre-approval. The following manuscript guidelines will be strictly observed for Manuscript Format.

Upon approval for entry into the peer review process, a curriculum of no more than two pages, a signed letter on motives directed to the Journal Director and an Affidavit attesting that the article is original and unpublished, that it complies with international ethical standards and follows the format recommended by the Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, (APA, 2020, 7th ed., <http://www.apa.org>). In the latter, the principal author will transfer the author’s rights (copyright) to the Journal, in the event that the manuscript is accepted for publication.

The editorial board will assign an identification number (ID) to the manuscript, as soon as delivery is complete, pursuant to the editorial board’s requirements. To see a flow-chart of the editorial process, please click here

If the Editorial Board considers in necessary, it may send the article for review to other referees. Independent of its acceptance or rejection, the documentation delivered will not be returned.

Publication frequency

The journal is published on a continuous basis organized semi-annually (two issues per year). The journal will appear in the first month of each issue's opening (January and July respectively). This change takes effect from 2024.

The journal may publish supplements or special issues dedicated to exclusive topics (symposia, courses, congresses, etc.). Manuscripts that make up the special numbers must follow the same review and approval process as those of regular issues, those for the supplements do not.

Open Access policy

The Revista Costarricense de Psicología supports and provides free and immediate access to its content under the principle that making research freely available to the public promotes a greater interchange of global knowledge.

Our users may read, download, store, print, search, index and link to the full texts of the Revista. Authors are authorized to deposit the post-print and final versions in pdf format of their manuscripts in open access repositories. All of this may be carried out as long as it is not done for commercial purposes, no derivative works are generated and the source and author are mentioned according to what has been established in the Creative Commons -Non Commercial-Non Derivative-Attribution License 4.0 Costa Rica.

Authors need assume no cost for either the editorial process for their articles or their publication.

ETHICS

ETHICAL POLICIES

 Since 1982, the Revista Costarricense de Psicología (Costa Rican Journal of Psychology) has been the official open-access scientific publication of the Costa Rican Psychologists´ Association (Colegio Profesional de Psicólogos de Costa Rica). The objectives of the Journal are to disseminate theoretical, technical and practical knowledge relevant to Psychology and related sciences. The Journal publishes topics pertinent to current scientific-academic discussions, and in accord with international research and scientific standards.

The Journal (under double blind peer review) seeks to validate and preserve historic “moments” of scientific research, which mandatorily must be precise, correct and verifiable. As such, in the entire publication process, the Journal embraces and attends to national and international ethical standards and recommendations.

In order for the Journal to accomplish these objectives, all participants, at all stages of the publication process (the editorial, committees and boards, authors, reviewers, the publishing institution, etc.) are asked to commit to and to follow defined procedures, and to assume important responsibilities in terms of their ethical conduct.

 

UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

Pointing out unethical behavior

Any person at any time may point out any unethical behavior to the Journal or to the Psychologists´ Association.

In order for the Journal to initiate an investigation, the informing person will be asked to provide sufficient information and evidence regarding the unethical behavior or misconduct. The Journal will take seriously and treat equally any allegations until a satisfactory decision, resolution and conclusion has been reached for all involved.

Follow-up on unethical behavior

La editorial toma la decisión inicial sobre la necesidad de una investigación formal y, si es apropiado, consulta con la institución editora (Colegio Profesional de Psicólogos de Costa Rica). En el proceso de recoger la evidencia sobre el conflicto, todas las partes involucradas se comprometen con evitar de divulgar alegaciones más allá de las personas que han de saber de ellas.

Minor misconduct

The journal may treat minor misconduct without the need to consult more widely, as long as all parts involved are given the opportunity to respond to any allegations in the particular process.

Major misconduct

In the event of a major degree or severity of misconduct, the Journal may opt to involve authorities, superiors or institutions related to the parts involved. The Journal, by examining the available evidence, and if appropriate, in consultation with the Psychologists´ Association, may make the decision to involve any other authority or to comment or consult the conduct with a limited number of experts available.

Consequences of unethical behavior

As a consequence of a misconduct presented, and according to the gravity of the behavior, the Journal shall decide on the severity of its actions and may choose one or several of the following:

In the case of a misunderstanding or a poorly applied standard, the Journal may seek information and educate the involved parts about what was expected from them or send correspondence in a firmer tone to advise about future behavior.

In more severe cases, the journal may send a formal letter to an authority, a working department or a financial entity regarding the accused party specifying the misconduct.

In cases of major severity, the Journal may publish a formal note or an editorial dealing with the misconduct or unethical behavior, revoke formally a publication in the journal or impose an embargo on contributions from the parts involved for a specified time. The Journal may report the case or the result of its investigation of the misconduct to a professional organization or superior authority for future actions or investigations.

 

ETHICAL EXPECTATIONS

 

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editorial Board’s Responsibilities

The Journal expects the members of the Editorial Board to acquire the necessary knowledge about its publication policies, norms and requirements, and to participate as higher-level advisors and referees having assumed a position of neutrality, objectivity, and elevated scientific-ethical expectations.

As part of the formulation of developmental strategies, the Board commits to supervise the Journal to be an open forum of high scientific and technical quality, which favors ethical and respectful proceedings at all times.

It is the Board´s duty to stimulate, promote and recognize the diffusion, interchange and visibility of the Journal and its collaborators based on scientific-ethical merits, which supposes active participation and punctual attendance at sessions and response to communications, and includes oversight for transparent proceedings and nominations based on scientific-ethical merits.

In accord with international standards, Editorial Board members, due to the functions inherent to their charge, are excluded from applying as authors of the Journal.

 

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

 Scientific Committee’s Responsibilities

The ethical responsibilities of the Scientific Committee are to advise on emergent scientific-ethical tasks, to give counsel regarding the definition of parameters of scientific quality, to assist actively in policy formulation and to participate as referees of the highest scientific-ethical quality. This includes inviting national and international members, recognized by the academic community as high-level scientists of superior ethical standards, and promoting the diffusion of the Journal in national and international scientific-academic media of renowned ethical proceedings.

 

REVIEWER

Reviewer’s Responsibilities

The reviewers, as contributors to the process of decision-making and for having a substantial influence on the publication´s quality, commit to timely reviews and communications, the highest scientific-ethical criteria and the objectivity of their review. This includes assuring the confidentiality of all information entrusted, to respect authors’ copyrights (to not copy, use or retain information) and to alert about any content published previously or any material similar to the material submitted for review.

The reviewer commits to evaluate each paper according to its scientific merit and its appropriateness to the Editorial´s strategies and policies, which includes familiarization with the Journal’s editorial policies, norms and publication requirements. The reviewer also commits to being aware of and declaring any conflict of interest in the author-reviewer relationship (financial, institutional, personal, etc.) and, if necessary, withdraw his/her services for the paper in question.

The reviewer commits to revise the paper from his/her field in an integral manner (content, form, composition, structure of the abstract, keywords, suitability of the language used, references, tables, graphics, statistics, etc.), and on recognizing his/her own limitations in a specific scientific proceeding or method, to recommend another reviewer specialized in, e.g., statistics, for the paper that so requires.

Furthermore, the reviewer will propose through a written and structured dictamen the measures and modifications necessary, and in accord with the Editorial´s norms and policies, to further the attainment of ethical standards by the papers and to comply with the editorial process, respect the review deadline and notify with anticipation in the event of possible delays.

 

AUTHORS

 Author´'s Responsibilities

Authorship involves the responsibility of keeping a record with submission data and the papers in process. This includes reading carefully and adhering to the Editorial´s standards and policies. E.g., to the commitments signed in the Affidavit, that the paper is unedited and original, that all sources reproduced are referenced properly, and confirming that the paper is not considered for review in any other publication, whatsoever the media; additionally this will state and specify all contributions on authorship involved in the paper.

The author will assure that any study with human beings or animals was carried out according to international, national, local and institutional laws and requirements (e.g., Nuremberg Declaration, 1947, Geneva Declaration, 1948, and Helsinki Declaration, 1964 and their amendments), and to confirm, as appropriate, that the necessary approvals were sought and obtained.

To protect a human subject´s privacy, the author must obtain written permission through a detailed informed consent, which states and specifies the subject´s consent to participate in the research and publication of the anonymous data.

Authors, furthermore, commit to abstain from any conflict of interest, e.g., to avoid any real o apparent activity, which could be construed, attributed or seen as an improper influence in relation to their function in the publication process, for example, pressuring members of the Board of Directors of the Psychologists´ Association or members of the Journal’s boards or committees to publish a paper.

Furthermore, authors commit to inform the editorial when a significant error in their paper or publication is identified and to cooperate with the Editorial to publish an erratum, addendum, and corrigendum or to withdraw their article if necessary.

Publishing Institution´´´  s Responsibilities

The Publishing Institution´s Responsibilities
(Costa Rican Psychologists´   Association)

The Costa Rican Psychologists´ Association subscribes to the above or similar principles, adopts these formally or may produce its own in attention to the Journal.

 

PLAGIARISM DETECTION

Revista Costarricense de Psicología (RCP) ascertains that it publishes articles with original and unedited content, and for that reason it carries out an analysis during the initial review of the articles received, with the objective of determining if there has been plagiarism, which implies, according to the Publication Manual Of the American Psychological Associaton (2020):

  • Plagiarism: presenting the work of others as own.
  • Self-plagiarism: presenting one´s previously published work as new scholarship.

Our journal warns also about the following practices:

  • Duplicate publication: publication of the same data or ideas in two separate sources.
  • Piecemeal publication: unnecessary splitting of the findings from one research effort into multiple articles.
  • Previously published research: submitting an article that has been published in whole or in a substantial part elsewhere, whether in English or in another language; it also implies submitting articles that have been published elsewhere in substantially  similar form or with substantially similar content.
  • Double submit of articles: sending a same article to two different journals, this to have greater probabilities of acceptance of the manuscript. In case the manuscript is accepted in both journals, this would imply self-plagiarism (Soto, 2012*).

During the initial review process for each article submitted for publication, the document submitted will undergo analysis by the on-line platform Crossref Similarity Check to determine it’s degree of originality, which will allow a determination whether the article has access to the peer review process or not.

Procedure.

The RCP editor will proceed to carry out an analysis of the originality of the article in the following manner:

  1. The article is loaded on the Crossref Similarity Check platform, which carries out a search and comparison of the contents of the articles, which are up-loaded on it, with different articles, papers, books, theses and electronic addresses, among others, stored on Internet and determines a percentage of originality for the manuscript.
  2. Once the result issued by this platform with regards to the article’s degree off originality, we will determine whether in will be entered into the peer review process or not. For this purpose, the following will be taken into consideration:
  • Articles with a degree of originality less that or equal to 50% will be rejected.
  • Articles with a degree of originality between 51% and 69%: The authors will be requested to review the article and improve the degree of originality of the manuscript
  • Articles with a degree of originality in the range of 70% to 100% of originality will enter the peer review process.
  • Articles that are detected as already published in other media will be rejected.
  1. The journal editor will inform the author by E-mail of the result of the degree of originality of authorship together with the corresponding editorial decision, pursuant to the criteria indicated in point 2
  2. In the case of the articles in which the authors are requested to revise their degree of originality, once the revised manuscript is received, it will once again be up-loaded to Crossref Similarity Check, to effect a new analysis of the level of originality of the article: if the originality increases to a range equal to or greater than 70%, it will enter the process for peer review; in the event that it receives a level of originality less than or equal to the originality with regard to the first analysis effected, the article will be rejected.

It is necessary to indicate that the journal performs other controls during the editorial process in order to comply with the aforementioned in terms of originality and detection of plagiarism.

Revista Costarricense de Psicología invites the authors of articles to carry out their own review of the degree of originality of their manuscripts at the on-line platforms available for this purpose, prior to their submission, to determine if this criterion must be improved or may be maintained.

*Soto, A. (2012). El plagio y su impacto a nivel académico y profesional. Revista e-Ciencias de la Información, 2(1), 1-3. Recuperado de http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=476848735003

Preparation of bibliographical references

The bibliographic references are prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2020, 7th ed.).

DIGITAL PRESERVATION POLICY

The Costa Rican Journal of Psychology keeps a digital archive of the articles published in its numbers through an account in the DROPBOX storage system, on external hard drives, as well as the articles uploaded to different indexers, platforms and databases. Likewise, a digital copy of the contents of the site, which is updated on a recurring basis, is preserved on the servers of Colegio de Profesionales en Psicología de Costa Rica

Also, this journal uses the LOCKSS and CLOCKSS system, developed by Stanford University, to create a distributed archive among participating libraries. The system allows such libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes.

Additionally, it belongs to the PKP Preservation Network, which provides preservation for any OJS journal.

Withdrawal of Articles

To effect a withdrawal of articles from the editorial process, you must send an e-mail specifying that request to the Revista Editorial Board (editorial@rcps-cr.org), with a copy to the Director (director@rcps-cr.org). This will become effective as soon as the e-mail is received by the Revista, indicating a manuscript withdrawal from the editorial process.

EVALUATION DURATION

The result of the evaluation of the manuscripts submitted for eventual publication in the RCPs will be communicated as soon as possible. This is subject to the degree of complexity of its content and the availability of external peers, who carry out the revisions of the manuscript.

ARTICLE REJECTION RATES - YEAR 2021

Received articles: 23

Accepted articles: 12

Acceptance percentage: 52.17%

Rejection percentage: 47.83%

Subscription for notifications

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In order to do so, you may click here, or access the Subscription tab in the main menu on this page. 

Use of Interoperable Protocols 

The Revista Costarricense de Psicología employs complementary metadata standards: DUBLIN CORE, MODS, OpenURL and NML; as well as the metadata format Open Archives Initiative (OAI), provided by Open Journal System.